The Newman Family Murders

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In this episode, we turn our attention to the haunting case of the Newman family murders, a tragic event that rocked the city of Anchorage, Alaska in March 1987. Join us as we journey back to uncover the unsettling details surrounding this heinous crime. As we navigate through the evidence, witness testimonies, and tireless law enforcement efforts, we will piece together the puzzle surrounding the murders of wife and mother Nancy Newman and her two young daughters Melissa and Angie. This episode is heartbreaking as it is intriguing and serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of life and the relentless pursuit of the truth.  

Our episode takes place in Anchorage, the largest city in the state of Alaska.  Anchorage is located in an area known as the “Ring of Fire” which is prone to earthquakes.  Purchased in 1867 from Russia for 7.2 million dollars by then US Secretary of State William Seward.  Anchorage’s geographical location means it experiences unique daylight patterns, including extended periods of daylight during the summer and limited daylight during the winter.  

Anchorage is the starting point for the famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a challenging long-distance race that covers over a thousand miles through the Alaskan wilderness.  Anchorage offers opportunities to see wildlife up close, from moose wandering the streets to bears and eagles in their natural habitats.  Anchorage’s blend of natural wonders, cultural exploration, and thrilling activities makes it an enticing destination for travelers seeking adventure and a deep connection with the beauty of the Last Frontier.

Young Family

Perhaps the allure of what Anchorage had to offer is what drew John Newman and his young family to move from Twin Falls, Idaho, and resettle in Alaska.  John and Nancy Newman married in Twin Falls on January 5, 1975.  Three years later their first daughter, Melissa was born on September 22, 1978, followed by their second daughter on August 17, 1983.  In May 1985, John moved up to Anchorage with Nancy and the girls following in July of that year.  John Newman had gotten a job working as a heavy-equipment operator for MarkAir in Prudhoe Bay while Nancy held two part-time jobs, one as a certified public accountant a job she had held back in Twin Falls, and the other as a waitress at Gwennies Old Alaska Restaurant.  

On Sunday, March 15, 1987, at 8:00 am Cheryl Chapman, Nancy’s sister and co-worker at Gwennies, received a call from Mama Summerville who ran Gwennies asking if she had heard from Nancy who was over two hours late for her shift. Mama Summerville also expressed concern that Nancy’s car was still parked outside of the restaurant in the same spot as it had been on the previous Friday evening.  

That Friday, Nancy, Cheryl, and Cheryl’s husband, Paul had gone to Gwennies for a few drinks around 6:00 p.m..  Nancy’s two daughters had gone out with their cousin, Kelly, Cheryl’s daughter from a previous marriage, for some swimming and to go out to eat.  Around 9:00 p.m., the Chapmans and Nancy drove in one car back to the Newman’s apartment on Eide Street. Paul told Nancy to give him a call on Saturday if she needed a ride to pick up her car.  

John Newman, was not in Anchorage at the time having been in California to train as a locksmith since January.  John had been injured on the job when his forklift had flipped over.  This new training program had been provided for him through the worker’s compensation program.  He was expected home the following week on March 22nd.

Discovery

The Chapmans rushed over to the Newman apartment. By the time they arrived, Cheryl was a nervous wreck and unable to use her key in the door after no one had answered.  Paul took the key and the couple entered the quiet apartment.  The only thing that appeared out of place was an empty cookie tin that Nancy had used to keep her tip money in was empty.  It had held approximately $200 in change.  The coffee cups the small group had drank from on Friday night still sat unwashed in the sink.  

Paul had Cheryl wait in the kitchen as he went down the hallway opening each of the bedroom doors as he went.  What he saw in each bedroom had him backing out in horror pushing Cheryl out the door and grabbing the landline telephone with the long cord out the door.  Paul dialed 911.  If you watch the FBI Files episode in the show notes you can hear the actual 911 call and Cheryl’s cries of anguish.  

Officer Wayne Vance of the Anchorage Police Department was the first to arrive on the scene.  Vance entered the apartment and discovered the same dreadful sites that Paul Chapman had seen. He immediately backed out and called for the elite Homicide Response Team.

Even when paramedics arrived and wanted to enter the Newman apartment Officer Vance would not allow them to as there was no doubt that Nancy and the children were no longer alive and following policy wanted to preserve the crime scene.   

Homicide Response Team

Detective Sergeant Mike Grimes arrived on the scene and went room to room finding more brutality than the previous one.  The first bedroom belonged to eight-year-old Melissa.  According to the book Murder in the Family by  Burl Barer, Melissa was lying on her back in the middle of the bedroom floor with her right arm trapped under her body and her left arm out to her left side.  Both legs were bent back at the knees.  Her nightgown was pulled up over her chest and she was naked from the waist down.  A blue pillowcase was tied tightly around her neck, and another was tied around her right wrist.  She had a large amount of blood near her genital region.  She had been sexually assaulted.  A palm print was found on the wall above her headboard. 

In three-year-old Angie’s room, she was found lying on her bedroom floor.  Her throat had been cut with four slash marks from right to left.  Both her carotid artery and jugular veins had been severed.  Her nightgown had also been pulled up above her torso but she had not been sexually assaulted.  Several defensive wounds could be seen on her right hand.  She looked to have taken hits to the face and the right eye.  The pathologist would later determine that she died from blood loss.

Detective Grimes observed a pillowcase tied around Nancy’s neck who was lying on her bed.  She had also been beaten in the face with abrasions to her nose, forehead, and chin.  Her nightgown had also been pulled up to her neck.  She had also been sexually assaulted. She had died from strangulation.  Also noted on the bedroom dresser was a pair of olive green gloves that were taken into evidence.  

Team Approach

Detective Grimes immediately broke the elite squad into two teams: one to supervise and collect any forensic evidence from the apartment; the other team was to focus on tracking down leads, interviews and anything not associated with the crime scene.  Detectives Bill Reeder and Ken Spadafora were teamed together to investigate the sex crimes angle.  Sergeant Bill Gifford’s team focused on the crime scene.  

The investigators struggled to find a motive as to who would want to annihilate Nancy and her daughters.  According to Cheryl, Nancy didn’t have any enemies.  She was friendly with her customers but not flirtatious.  Burglary didn’t appear to be the primary motive as the home was not ransacked and nothing appeared out of place.  There was also no forced entry.  The only items that appeared missing were Nancy’s tip money, John Newman’s keys, the contents of Nancy’s purse, and a high-quality 35mm camera.  

In questioning the neighbors, coworkers, and friends nothing stood out.  John Newman was quickly ruled out as he wasn’t in the state and had no reason to want his family dead.  When told of their murders on Sunday night he was devastated by the news. He would never view their bodies.  

Investigators next focused on Paul Chapman.  He, Cheryl, and her daughter were the last individuals to see the family alive. Initially, investigators believe the murders occurred between midnight Friday to around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.  Once autopsy results came in the time of death would be paired down to sometime Saturday morning until 10:30 am.   Paul had no alibi for Saturday morning as Cheryl had already gone to work. Investigators asked the Chapmans if there were any other family members in Anchorage they needed to interview.  There was only one, a nephew of John Newman’s, Kirby D. Anthoney.  

Kirby Anthoney and his girlfriend, Debbie Heck had moved to Anchorage in October 1986.  The two had stayed with the Newmans sleeping in Melissa’s bedroom until mid-January, moving out to take a job on a fishing boat, the Arctic Enterprise, leaving port in Dutch Harbor.  

Profiler

The Anchorage police needed help in identifying the type of person that would commit such a crime so they reached out to the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico.  Agent Judson Ray was assigned to the case.  In a detailed review of the crime scene photos and compiled police reports Agent Ray developed a profile of the killer.  He felt that the killer would have low self-esteem.  The killer felt rejected by society for years and now was the time for payback. The perpetrator was likely the youngest of any siblings.  They also had experienced a recent traumatic event, such as a break-up or job loss.  The killer would also appear to be cooperative with police and try to interject themselves into the investigation.

The killer was a violent offender who would have a history of sexual assault against the young or elderly.  He was a white underachieving male between the ages of 19 and 24 who lived in the immediate area. Agent Ray profiled that the killer knew the family and perhaps had been rejected by Nancy Newman.  He based this on the facial battery which usually indicates not only a lot of anger but familiarity.  This killer also wanted to humiliate Nancy and the girls.  The killer also had difficulty maintaining relationships, would work menial jobs, and had a spotty work history.  

Crime Scene

Along with the olive gloves found on the dresser, a wet washcloth waded up on the bathroom sink was taken into evidence.  Evidence showed that someone had wiped down the sink, medicine cabinet, bathroom wall, and around the toilet.  The apartment was photographed and videotaped in extensive detail.  The forensic unit broke each room in the apartment into quadrants and meticulously vacuumed each section with a special filter attachment collecting any dirt, hairs, and fibers.

To investigators, the killer had stayed in the apartment for a time which told them the killer felt safe enough doing so.  Detectives believed based on the crime scene that although Nancy had been sexually assaulted it was Melissa that seemed to be the focus of the killer.  Angie’s death was quick but Melissa’s had been drawn out with cruelty and humiliation.  The killer took their time and enjoyed what they had done. The killer didn’t cover up the victims but displayed them showing no remorse for their actions. Investigators worked on the theory that this killer knew his victims.  

Return

Investigators worked on ruling out suspects and were able to cross off Cheryl and Paul Chapman along with a half dozen sexual offenders who lived in the area.    One family member they could not remove from the suspect list was Kirby Anthoney.  Investigators discovered from Cheryl that Anthoney had returned to the Newman apartment alone a little over a month after he and his girlfriend had left. He would only stay about a week before moving in with Dan Grant who lived about a mile from the Newman apartment complex.  

Detectives Grimes, Reeder, and Spadafora went to talk to Anthoney the day the bodies were discovered.  When informed he displayed a range of emotions from anguished cries to stopping cold and asking who found them.  When told, Anthony replied, “That makes sense – she’s the only one who has a key.”  Anthoney was taken to the station for further questioning.  

He was cooperative and told authorities that he had been at an all-night party at his friend, Jeff Mullin’s home.   The party-goers drank beer, rolled dice, and snorted cocaine until 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. then continued to roll dice until 7:00 a.m.  Anthoney then left for home at 7:05 a.m.  After 8:00 am he placed a call to his Aunt Nancy wanting to set up a visit and pay her some money he owed her.  Nancy had loaned Anthoney $500.  Around 9:00 am he went over to another friend’s house, Kirk Mullins, and along with another friend proceeded to do their laundry.  The trio then went to Burger King for lunch around 11:45 a.m.  

Busted Alibi

Detectives Reeder and Spadafora checked up on Anthoney’s alibi specifically for Saturday morning.  They talked to both Kirk Mullins and another person, Deborah Dean to verify Anthoney’s timeline.  Both confirmed that Anthoney had come over Saturday morning, however, Mullins told the detectives that Anthoney didn’t arrive until between 10:00 am and 11:00 am.  

Anthoney’s original statement now had a hole in it.  There was a window of one to two hours that he was unaccounted for.  Detectives confronted Anthoney about the discrepancy in his original timeline.  Anthoney now told detectives that he didn’t go straight over to the Mullins’ residence; he had stopped at Burger King, purchased a breakfast sandwich from the drive-through window and then sat in his truck and ate it in the parking lot.

Suspect

Kirby D. Anthoney was born on December 23, 1963, to Noah and Peggy Anthoney.  He was the youngest of five children to a truck driver dad and waitress mom.  His parent’s marriage was marred with domestic violence.  Anthoney’s criminal history began at the age of fourteen with a first-degree burglary charge.  He was placed on probation for a year.  In February 1979, Anthoney got into trouble again for attempting to bomb a building.  He had attempted to burn down a school. He was sent to Twin Falls County Juvenile Detention for thirty days.  

Anthoney continued to get into trouble with the courts, finally deciding to send him to the Youth Service Center in St. Anthony, Idaho for four months in August 1980.  While in St. Anthony’s he was able to receive vocational training in mechanics and earned his GED.  Anthoney was able to stay out of trouble for about a year until January 6, 1982.  That is when Anthoney robbed an elderly wheelchair-bound woman in her home.  He had brandished a gun, tied her up, and sprayed mace in her face.  He then tore the phone line out before leaving.  Her son found her later that day and contacted the police.  Two days later Anthoney was charged with armed robbery.  

This next excerpt is from Murder in the Family from “a court-appointed investigator’s report to the presiding judge.  This appears to be an act of a self-centered, selfish, and uncaring person, a person who thinks only of himself.  In committing this crime, it appears the subject is continuing his pattern of criminal behavior, a pattern that began during his recent juvenile years, and a pattern that he has brought with him into his adult life.  He has a serious drug and alcohol problem, his debts are unmanageable, and he has no known source of income.”

Back At It

Anthoney may have received some jail time for his latest crime, but I could not find anything specifically stating this.  The next indication that Anthoney was still committing criminal offenses was on July 26, 1985, after a two-and-a-half-year absence.   A twelve-year-old girl had been found near death in the Rock Creek Canyon picnic area.  Her name was Michelle and she had been raped, strangled, and beaten.   When police investigated they found a pair of men’s thongs/flip-flops near the scene.  Several young men had also been in the area partying nearby.  The things were found to belong to a young man named Sam Berry who had lent them to his friend, Kirby Anthoney.

Police wanted the clothing Anthoney wore that night. Anthoney turned over his clothing, just not the ones from that night.  He would tell Debbie Heck to not say anything to the police.  She didn’t believe he had anything to do with the offense so she said nothing.  Michelle had been left blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. She was also unable to remember anything.  Although Anthoney was under suspension and told authorities they would have his full cooperation, he and Debbie left for Anchorage soon after.  Neither, John nor Nancy Newman knew that Kirby Anthoney was the prime suspect in Michelle’s sexual assault. 

Peggy Anthoney. Kirby’s mother knew but never said a word to her brother.  Years later, John Newman told the author of Murder in the Family that had he known he would have never allowed his nephew around his family.  

Stolen

Detectives paid another visit to Anthoney a week after the murders.  They wanted to collect a leather jacket and pair of shoes Anthoney had worn the previous weekend.  Anthoney allowed the detectives in to look around even though they didn’t have a warrant.  Detectives found a camera similar to the one John Newman reported as stolen.  When questioned Anthoney admitted it was his uncle’s camera but insisted it wasn’t stolen.  He told the detectives that his Aunt Nancy had loaned it to him telling him not to tell John as he would get upset.  

Detectives took the camera and had the film inside developed.  Those pictures showed family photos from Christman 1986. There were no recent pictures although Anthoney claimed he had borrowed to use it.  Detectives also looked closer at Anthoney’s alibi for that Saturday morning specifically the stop at Burger King.  Employees reported that they did not remember seeing Anthoney there that morning nor were there any cars in the parking lot.  When questioned about this Anthoney claimed he meant the parking lot across the street from the Burger King.  

Bad Boyfriend

Investigators wanted to know more about Kirby Anthoney as they had already moved him up to the top of the suspect list.  Specifically, they wanted to know what happened on the Arctic Enterprise and his relationships with previous girlfriends.  This meant a conversation with his ex-girlfriend of three years, Debbie Heck.  Detectives tracked down Heck aboard the Arctic Enterprise and informed her of the murders.   Heck told detectives that she met Anthoney in August 1984 through mutual friends. 

Heck admitted that Anthoney had a violent temper that he didn’t seem to be able to control.  When the couple joined the Arctic Enterprise in November 1986 they had to sell their belongings and moved into the Newmans until they were to report to the boat. Heck confirmed that the Newmans did not give them a key to the apartment.  They instead would go through the window in Melissa’s bedroom.  

Once on the boat, the couple’s relationship began to fracture more than it already had been.  Heck admitted that Anthoney enjoyed hurting her during sex.  When she would tell him to stop he would just do it more.  Her pain and suffering only seemed to arouse him.  In February 1987, Anthoney was fired and asked to leave the boat.  Heck remained on board but was scared as to how Anthoney would react.  She wrote to her family back home in Idaho to be vigilant if they would see Anthoney.  

The most shocking admission by Heck was that there was a possibility that Anthoney had previously killed someone.  Heck claimed that Anthoney told her he knew who had killed a man who was found next to a car wash he had worked at.  He then admitted it was him.  The murder victim in the still unsolved homicide was Walter Napageak who worked as a transvestite sex worker.  They had been found behind the Northern Lights Car Wash beaten with a cracked skull.  Their jeans and been tied around their neck.  Napageak was also displayed in a humiliating pose.  Heck confirmed for detectives that she believed Anthoney could have killed his aunt and cousins and that thought alone scared her to death.  

Forensics

While the criminal investigation unit was conducting interviews the other investigative unit focused on the crime scene.  Once the bodies were removed and the scene extensively photographed and videoed, detectives broke up each room into 3 by 4-foot quadrants and proceeded to vacuum each section using a specialized filter attachment.  Every sample, including the wool gloves, washcloth, sheets, and nightclothes the victims wore, all vacuum samples were sent to the FBI crime lab in Washington DC on April 3, 1987.  

Fingerprint analysis was also conducted on the apartment.  Kirby had moved out weeks before and denied having been in the apartment recently so finding some prints would not have been a surprise.  What was surprising was that his prints were found in every room including the inside of the cookie tin that held Nancy’s tips.  Anthoney’s palm print was also found on the wall above Melissa’s bed.  

Another match to Anthoney was pubic hairs found on Melissa near her body and on the washcloth.  Also on the washcloth were green fibers that matched the wool gloves found on Nancy’s dresser.  What tied Anthoney to the pubic hairs was the findings of lice egg casings. Anthoney Kirby had genital lice.   

Disturbing

More disturbing information came from an interview of a woman who had met Anthoney on March 20th at Chilkoot Charlie’s, an Anchorage nightclub.  Victoria told detectives that Anthoney had asked her if she had heard about the Newman murders. He then admitted that the victims were his aunt and cousins and that the “mom had to watch her oldest child being sexually assaulted.”  Now this is something that detectives had suspected may have occurred based on physical evidence found in Nancy’s bedroom but that information had not been released.  

Other information was coming to light that only seemed to cement Anthoney as the prime suspect such as four days after the murders Anthoney had bought his roommate lunch and paid for some of it using a roll of dimes.  So although Anthoney was at the top of the list, detectives still looked into other suspects.  There were a half dozen sexually violent parolees, some living close to the Newman apartment.  All of their alibis checked out for the window of 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on the morning of the murders.

Closing In

On April 14th, Anthoney was scheduled to come into the police department to meet with Detective Reeder.  However, Anthoney did not keep his appointment, leaving a message for the detective that he had to help a friend with his truck.  The truth is Anthoney was heading to the Canadian border.  Anthoney told his roommate he was leaving and after a seven-hour head start Dan Grant finally got up the nerve to call the authorities.  

Sergeant Grimes called the US border authorities telling them to be on the lookout for a truck matching the description of Anthoney’s vehicle.  Grimes was told that it had already crossed the border.  After passing through US customs there are twenty-six miles one needs to go before reaching the Canadian customs border.  Grimes called Canadian customs hoping that Anthoney had yet to reach the crossover.  He informed them that Anthoney was a suspect in a triple homicide in Anchorage, had prior felony convictions, and was also suspected of attempted murder and rape in Idaho. 

As luck would have it while Grimes was relaying all this information to the Canadian border agent Anthoney pulled up.  Anthoney was turned away and forced to drive back to the US border.  Around 11:30 a.m. Anthoney Kirby was arrested by an Alaskan State Trooper for driving on a suspended license at the US border.  His truck was searched and a marijuana pipe was found so his truck ended up being impounded.  He was held on 5,000 bail for driving on a suspended license.

Charged

Charges were filed for three counts of murder in the first degree, two counts of sexual assault in the first degree, and one count of kidnapping on April 24, 1987.  The kidnapping charge was due to an Alaskan statute that “says if you restrain any person in any significant way to perform an act of sexual assault, it adds another count of kidnapping punishable by up to ninety-nine years.”  Melissa had a pillow case tied to her wrist indicating she had been restrained at one point.  

On Saturday, April 25, 1987, Anthoney was transported back to Anchorage and held on a cash-only bail of $3 million.  

That Night

If you are interested in more insight into the behind-the-scenes legal maneuverings between the prosecutors and defense teams then I would recommend you read Murder in the Family by Burl Barer.  The author goes into a lot of detail as to the back and forth between what was allowed to be presented at trial and what was successfully kept out by the defense.  

In April 1988, Kirby Anthoney’s trial began with six men and six women sworn in to hear the case.  The prosecution laid out their case that between the hours of 8:30 am and 10:30 am Kirby Anthoney after an all-night party of alcohol and cocaine went over to the Newman apartment.  At some point after his arrival for unknown reasons; perhaps Nancy questioned the money she loaned him or refused to loan him anymore; perhaps she refused sexual advances from Anthoney and ordered him out of the apartment and an altercation took place in which Anthoney’s anger boiled over.  

The evidence showed that Melissa was most likely assaulted first in her mother’s bedroom after Nancy was restrained.  Both may have witnessed each other’s assaults before Anthoney strangled Nancy and took Melissa back to her bedroom where he assaulted her again and killed her by strangulation.  Angie was the last victim as her blood was not found in any other rooms in the apartment.  Her throat cut she was left to bleed out.  

Anthoney took the stand in his own defense much to his attorney’s dismay.  He did not do himself any favors by stumbling through statements during his cross-examination.  After eight weeks of testimony on June 3, 1988, the jury found Anthoney guilty on all counts.  He was sentenced to 357 years behind bars.  

Unique

Kirby D. Anthoney has tried to appeal his conviction but has been unsuccessful.  He has also been charged with other offenses while serving his time behind bars. As for the other crimes he has been connected to namely the Napageak murder that case has not been tried even though prosecutors felt they could get a conviction due to money and the conviction he received from the Newman murders.  

At his sentencing Anthoney erupted in rage displaying the “same selfish rage that fueled his cruelty towards the Newmans…..he showed no shame.”  Under the judge’s sentencing Anthoney will not be eligible for parole for about one hundred and twenty years.  

Anthoney’s trial made history in another way outside of the long sentence.  It was the first criminal trial in which an FBI profiler testified.  Although his testimony was brief he was the first FBI agent in the United States to be “admitted the Federal, State, and Military courts, as an expert in the area of psychological profiling of the lust/serial killer.”  

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